Dr Adequate, Coyote, and Rrhain @ "Which religion's creation story should be taught?"

Author: Dr Adequate, Coyote, and RrhainForum: Education and Creation/EvolutionThread: Which religion's creation story should be taught?Message #: 272, 274, 275

An interesting little discussion of the U.S. courts treatment of atheism as a religion.

Moose

ps: Another Rrhain message, POTM nominated just upthread, is also extremely good, but it seemed somewhat silly to pile on the "seconded" messages so I didn't at the time.

Professor, geology, Whatsamatta UEvolution - Changes in the environment, caused by the interactions of the components of the environment.

"Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will piss on your computer." - Bruce Graham

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." - John Kenneth Galbraith

"Yesterday on Fox News, commentator Glenn Beck said that he believes President Obama is a racist. To be fair, every time you watch Glenn Beck, it does get a little easier to hate white people." - Conan O'Brien

"I know a little about a lot of things, and a lot about a few things, but I'm highly ignorant about everything." - Moose

Author: CoyoteForum: Geology and the Great FloodThread: Uniformitarianism and GeologyMessage #: 3

Message 1 was the topic proposal, message 2 was the administrative topic promotion message, and message 3 pretty much says all that needs to be said in response to message 1.

The topic will go downhill from this point.

Moose

Professor, geology, Whatsamatta UEvolution - Changes in the environment, caused by the interactions of the components of the environment.

"Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will piss on your computer." - Bruce Graham

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." - John Kenneth Galbraith

"Yesterday on Fox News, commentator Glenn Beck said that he believes President Obama is a racist. To be fair, every time you watch Glenn Beck, it does get a little easier to hate white people." - Conan O'Brien

"I know a little about a lot of things, and a lot about a few things, but I'm highly ignorant about everything." - Moose

Giving Modulous a POTM nomination seems almost superfluous, given that he writes so well, so often. I certainly don't recall seeing him post a poor message. This one does stand out though. Mod does a great job here of articulating the practical limits on how logically valid science can be and why this is not a bad thing. Nice work.

And while I am here can I just say that ever since the introduction of message ratings (which I am broadly in favour of - even if not in the current form) the "Post of the Month" thread seems to have been in demise.

This is a shame. And I am guessing not at all the intended consequence of the message rating system.

Modulous, at "Articulating In The Debates; The Proper And The Improper"

Author: ModulousForum: Free For AllThread: Articulating In The Debates; The Proper And The ImproperMessage #: 174

So my view in short is this: Swearing is perfectly fine. But stylistically I find it unpleasant to read a piece of writing which overuses a word or phrase. It happens with words that aren't sweary, but swearing is easily overused. I'd call this an aesthetic objection.

In a verbal debate, one can overswear to great effect - because tone of voice adds a layer of variation to the discussion. An increasing crescendo of swearing qualifiers can have a power verbally that in the written word is more difficult to get across without 'sounding' mentally unstable or simply becoming boring. It is offensive to use English, and swear words in particular, to create a boring monotony - not because they are 'profane' or otherwise intrinsically bad.

If for no other reason, this is an expanded version my own position, and I suspect the position of the bulk of the membership (including the various admins).

There can be proper use of a word or phrase, and there can be improper or overuse of a word or phrase.

But do not further debate such here at the POTM - Do it at the source topic.

The record shows that I've posted 257 messages (9% of my total) in the various POTM topics, and I think most of these were original nominations and not "seconds". While some to even many of my choices might well be of dubious quality, I have tried.

There must be other members here who are seeing special messages that should be pointed out to others. Nominate that sucker!

Moose

Professor, geology, Whatsamatta UEvolution - Changes in the environment, caused by the interactions of the components of the environment.

"Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will piss on your computer." - Bruce Graham

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." - John Kenneth Galbraith

"Yesterday on Fox News, commentator Glenn Beck said that he believes President Obama is a racist. To be fair, every time you watch Glenn Beck, it does get a little easier to hate white people." - Conan O'Brien

"I know a little about a lot of things, and a lot about a few things, but I'm highly ignorant about everything." - Moose